James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy met while working in New York on the David Holmes album Let's Get Killed.[5] After the recording was completed, Goldsworthy stayed in New York, and the two began to throw parties in the Lower East Side. They wished to start a record label, but it was not until they met Jonathan Galkin, who subsequently quit his event-production job to run the label that it took off.[4]

DFA Records began on a series of 12" single vinyl releases starting with The Rapture's "House of Jealous Lovers" and The Juan Maclean's "By the Time I Get to Venus". "House of Jealous Lovers" went on to sell 7500 copies.[6] Many of the early releases of DFA's catalog were released in Europe through Trevor Jackson's Output Recordings. After completing production on The Rapture's debut full-length album Echoes, DFA began to shop around the album. Although The Rapture eventually signed to Universal Music Group, the DFA label secured a deal with EMI for distribution of its acts outside the United States, along with several distributors within the U.S.[7]

In 2007 DFA Records started an imprint label titled Death From Above. This offshoot is used to release 12" singles by artists not based in North America, such as Mock & Toof and ALTZ.[12] The imprint also released a CD compilation of tracks released on the Berlin based Supersoul Recordings.[13]

The label's original name was Death From Above Records, dating from Murphy's nickname for the soundsystem he had helped build for Six Finger Satellite. This name was deemed inappropriate for a New York City-based label following the September 11, 2001 attacks and subsequently shortened to its abbreviation DFA.

We knew about them for a long time, the name thing wasn't a big deal. It wasn't until they signed to a major label, which wouldn't release the record until we signed off on the name. That's how this all came about.... [Parent company of Death From Above 1979's label, Vice] Atlantic's not gonna release a record by a band with the same name as another entity in music.... We spent a lot of money because we didn't just wanna be total fucking assholes and just say no. We were trying to find a way for it to actually work.... I was like, "What the hell's wrong with Death From Above 1979?" But the copyright attorney was like, "No, that's not fine." And I said, "If they become a totally different name, and it delays their record, that's something I'm not comfortable with." So we just tried to make it work as well as possible.[14]

The influence of musicians and bands like Brian Eno, Talking Heads, Liquid Liquid, ESG, Blondie, Yazoo, New Order, as well as Chicago House, can be heard throughout the DFA catalog.[19][20][21] Rather than retread, however, the DFA have taken the live dance music of the time and infused the techniques and themes with a modern aesthetic—alternately faster, heavier, dubbier, noisier, and generally more intense than their influences.